Cold conserver



Aug. 18, 1936. s. MOOREET AL 2,051,733

COLD CONSERVER Filed Feb. 4, 1935 4 Sheets-Shet 1 ATTORNEY Aug-v 1' 6 s.MOORE ET AL 2,051,733

COLD CONSERVER Filed Feb. 4, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 Stag/0rd /VwrzINVENTORS ATTORNEY Aug. 13, 1936. 8', RE ET AL 2,051,733

COLD CON SERVER day;

(Tia/yard /%0/6 [07/74/77 (Myafis ATTORNEY Fatented Aug. 31%. 393% ttiiii rarest orgies Stanford Moore and William 13. ilyons, @irlahoma City,@ixla.

Application February 4, 1935, Serial No. 5,007

l (Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerators and simi- 1 lar coolingdevices'and has for the primary object the provision of a device of thischaracter which will have maximum efiiciency with minimum operatingcosts. I

Another object of this invention is the provision of means for dividingthe refrigerator into compartments each opened and closed by a door andcommunicative with the compartments adjacent thereto when the doorsoccupy compartment-closing position so that air circulation may be hadbetween the compartments and each compartment to becomenon-communicative with the compartment thereabove when the door of therespective compartment is moved into open position which will prevent adown flow of cold air to the compartment which is open, consequentlymaterially reducing the loss of cold air from the refrigerator duringthe time in which a compartating costs in maintaining the compartmentsat a desired temperature;

With these and other objects in view, this iii-- vention consists incertain novel features of construction, combination and arrangementsofparts to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of the invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure lis a perspective view, partly broken away, illustrating a refrigeratorconstructed in accordance with our invention.

Figure Z is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3'0f Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line LL 8 ofFigure 2.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary plan view illustratingthe door mounting.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating either a door ortray frame.

Figure '7 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a door seal.

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view showing the air circulationbetween the compartments of the refrigerator.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the nu-' .50 meral l indicates arefrigerator box or case provided with a doorway or entrance 2, thewalls of. which are beveled to form a seat to accommodate a, maindoor.:3. Arranged within the box or. case i are spaced superimposedshelf supporting medium removabliy supporting shelves d forming in mentmay be open and thereby conserve operthe box or case aplurality ofsuperimposed compartments and the uppermost compartment is divided intointermediate and side chambers, which are communicative with eachotherand each chamber is closed by a door 5. The inter- 5 mediatechamber is preferably employed for accommodating the cooling unit of therefrigerator while the other chambers and compartments are employed forthe accommodation of foodstuffs and the like. The compartments below theup- 10 permost compartment are each closed by a door 6. The doors 5 arehingedly mounted to swing about a vertical axis while the doors 6 aremounted-to swing about a horizontal axis and the doors 5 when in openposition .or arranged horizontally 15 align with the shelves so thatarticles may be rested on said doors 6 either when being removed orreplaced in the compartments. The doors are equipped with handles 1 andare of transparent construction so that the contents of the compartmentsmay be viewed without the opening of the doors 6 and 5 and after theopening of the door 3 and in some instances the door 3 may be omittedfrom the refrigerator if desired. However, it is preferable that thedoor 3 be employed so that should one of the doors 5 or 6 be broken,atmospheric temperature would be prevented from reaching the interior ofthe box or case due to said door 3. The doors 5 and 6 areeachconstructed from a frame 8 grooved to form spaced seats to receivespaced transparent or glass panels. it forming therebetween a dead airspace it]. It is preferable that the edges of the panels be'beveled, asshown at H, and the seats shaped accordingly so that the panels andframe will not interfere with the door occupying a closed position. Theframe 8 is provided with a pintle 92 to fit in a socket l3 and upon theopposite side thereof has a slidable spring pressed plunger 84 receivedin a seat IS. The pintle l2 and plunger 40 it cooperate in forming ahinge for the door and one that will permit the door to be readily re-,moved and replaced whenever desired. The plunger M is equipped with apin 66 operating in a slot it of the frame 8 whereby the plunger M maybe easily slid against the action of the spring to disengage saidplunger from the seat 55 when desiring to remove or replace the door.

Each tray it consists of a frame l8 having a removable side l9 and isprovided with seats to accommodate spaced transparent or glass panels 20forming therebetween a dead air space 2|. The dead air spaces of thedoors and trays materially reduce the formation of frost on these partsand the dead air spaces of the doors materially insulate thecompartments to atmospheric temperature while the dead air spaces in thetrays aid in insulating the compartments from one another.

The tray supporting mediums each include frame elements 22 removablysecured to the walls of the box or case and consists of front, side andrear elements each carrying flanges 23 to form wedge-shaped seats forcushion supporting elements 24 on which rest the trays. The cushionelements 24 cooperate with the frames and the trays in providing sealsbetween the compartments. The front frame elements have longitudinallyarranged ribs or projections 25 forming seats for cushion elements 26.The cushion elements 25 are abutted by the doors when the latter are incompartment-closing position. The ribs 25 are shouldered, as shown at21, to form stops to be engaged by the doors when moved into openposition and which support said doors horizontally andin alignment withthe trays. The ribs 25 are also equipped with seats or sockets 28 to beengaged by spring pressed catches 29 carried by the doors for retainingthe doors in closed position. The frame elements 22 are equipped withflanges 30 apertured to receive fasteners 3| which secure the frameelements to the walls of the box or case.

Formed in walls of the box or case are bypass chambers 32, whichchambers establish communication between the compartments and the bypasschambers are so located that their point of communication with thecompartments will be above and below the trays. Gratings 33 are providedfor the bypass chambers where the latter communicate with thecompartments above the trays to prevent articles in the compartmentssupported by the trays from falling into the bypass chambers. Thegratings are supported by the tray supporting mediums.

Gate type valves 34 are journaled in the bypass chambers for opening andclosing said chambers and carried by the tray supporting mediums arecushion abutting strips 35 to be engaged by the valves when the latterassume position of closing the "bypass chambers. The mounting for thevalves is in the form of pintles fitting in journals and secured to thepintles are pinions 36 meshing with rack bars 31 slidably mounted inguides 38 formed in the walls of the box or case. The guides 38 extendto the doorway of the box or case and the rack bars have beveled faces39 which are urged outwardly of the guides by coil springs 40 so thatthe beveled faces of the rack bars will be engaged by the doors when inclosed position urging the rack bars inwardly of the guides andpositioning the valves 34 to permit free circulation of air through thebypass chambers so that the air from one compartment may pass to anothercompartment. The doors when moved to an open position free the rack barsand due to the influence of the springs 40 the valves 34 are engagedwith the strips 35 and close the bypass chambers cutting off aircirculation from one compartment to another. This permits any one of thecompartments to be: opened and the air circulation is interrupted fromthe open compartment to the compartments thereabove which closed and thegate valves open, circulation of air throughout the various compartmentswill be unobstructed consequently permitting the chilled air from thecooling unit to descend downwardly through the various compartmentswhile the warm air ascends to contact with the cooling unit.

Having described the invention, we claim:

1. In a refrigerator, a box having a main chamber, a plurality ofsuperimposed tray supporting mediums arranged in the chamber andremovably secured to the walls of the box, trays removably supported bysaid mediums and dividing the main chamber into a plurality ofcompartments, a door hinged to each tray supporting means and when in anopen position adapted to be arranged in a plane with a tray, said boxhaving bypass chambers in walls thereof communicating with thecompartments above and below the trays, valves for opening and closingthe bypass chambers, and

means between said valves and the doors to close the valves ontheopening of the doors and to permit opening of said valves on saiddoors moving into closed position.

2. In a refrigerator, a box having a main chamber, a plurality ofsuperimposed tray supporting mediums arranged in the chamber andremovably secured to the walls of the box, trays removably supported bysaid mediums and dividing the main chamber into a plurality ofcompartments, a door hinged to each tray supporting means andwhen in anopen position adapted to be arranged in a plane with a tray, said boxhaving bypass chambers in walls thereof communicating with thecompartments above and below the trays, valves for opening and closingthe bypass chambers, guides carried by the box, spring pressed rack barsslidable in said guides, means connecting the rack bars to the valves,said rack bars having beveled faces to be engaged by the doors on thelatter occupying closed position to move the valves into open position,said spring pressed rack bars automatically closing the valves on theopening of the doors.

3. In a refrigerator, a box having a main chamber, a plurality of frameelements secured to the walls of the box, cushion elements carried bysaid frame elements, trays supported by said cushion elements andforming the main chamber into a plurality. of compartments, doors hingedto the frame elements for opening and closing the compartments, cushionelements carried by the frame elements to engage the doors, and meanscarried by the box and controlled by the movement of the doors to openand close the compartments to one another in accordance with theposition of the doors. I

4. In a refrigerator, a box having a main chamber, a plurality ofremovable trays mounted in the main chamber to divide the latter intocompartments, a door for each compartment, said box having bypasschambers communicating with the compartments above and below the trays,gratings between the bypass chambers and the compartments where saidbypass chambers communicate with the compartments above the trays, andvalve means for opening and closing the bypass chambers in accordancewith the positions of the doors.

STANFORD MOORE. WILLIAM C. LYONS.

